The Script - #3 Review
rating: 3.5
When I first played through the album I was very unsure of it. However after multiple playthroughs it is slightly growing on me... #3 was released on September 10th this year and is oddly enough The Script's third album. You might recognise Danny O'Donoghue from his recent appearances as a judge on UK TV show 'The Voice'. One of his judging partners, Will.I.Am (for the purposes of this review shall now be called William) also features in a duet on the album's lead single 'Hall of Fame'. Unlike their first two albums, 'The Script' and 'Science & Faith', #3 hasn't reached number 1 in the UK album charts (at the time of writing this, it was sitting at number 3 behind the Killers and Pink). Yet strangely enough Hall of Fame is so far their only UK no. 1 single as 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' (probably their most well known song) only reached no. 2 over here. It was beaten by a combination of 'Dance Wiv Me' and 'All Summer Long' in case you wanted to know. So, onto the album as a whole then... I got myself the deluxe edition and it features an extra 7 tracks. 4 live renditions of previous hits, a version of 'Hall of Face' minus William and two extra tracks called 'Moon Boots' and 'Hurricanes'. Moon Boots and Hurricanes are both brilliant songs. They sound like The Script of old, so if you liked their first two albums you will definitely like these two extra songs if you decided to splash out on the deluxe version for yourself. Hall of Fame, the lead single, gave The Script their first No.1 in the UK which has been a long time coming in my opinion. Slightly convenient that this song is a duet with fellow The Voice judge William. Wonder what caused this unusual pairing then...? The song overall sounds like it was written to be a hit at the end of day and William doesn't add anything special or inspiring other than the word "Yeah" constantly said in the background. The normal version included on the deluxe edition is far better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk48xRzuNvA One thing I noticed throughout is the much larger presence of their lead guitarist Mark Sheehan. He features as a secondary vocalist on some of the tracks and is mainly used in a rapping role. The Script have always had a slightly 'talky' emphasis to their tracks and there is a large amount of that on display here. However there are more traditionally sung parts as well, so don't worry, Danny hasn't forgotten how to sing. The album does flow well together but the definite stand out songs for me were 'Six Degrees of Separation', ' Give the Love Around', 'Kaleidoscope' and 'Millionaires'. Six Degrees of Separation starts quite mellow but builds into a uplifting chorus. The song really shows off Danny's range as a vocalist and possibly could be a future release. Well here's hoping anyway. Give the Love Around starts slightly rap-esque with Mark contributing to this song throughout, alongside the lead vocals of Danny. It has a catchy beat that has violins included which is always a plus point for me. Violins make everything better. Give the Love Around has a very good vibe to it overall, a nice chill out song. My personal album favourite is Kaleidoscope. It has a great beat, great vocals and some well timed Ooo's. I rank this highly compared to all of The Script's songs they have ever produced. My favourite is still 'The End Where I Begin' from their first album, but Kaleidoscope makes a very fitting second place. Last but by no means least, Millionaires. Again it's probably my fondness of the more 'classic' Script sound that drew me into this song and I wasn't disappointed. The Script sure know how to write a catchy song. Although Danny does sound slightly like Bruno Mars in this song when he says Millionaires. Little bit weird.
Overall I am still undecided on this album. It has some very good elements but then some that are rather average and left more to be desired. If you are a fan of The Script then of course it is a must buy, but definitely spend the extra money going for the deluxe edition in my opinion. An extra £2 according to iTunes, but I'm sure you can shop around on various other websites that sell albums to find a price you are willing to pay. One thing to bear in mind though is that most of the songs do contain swearwords. So if the album is for someone younger, then you may want to find a radio edited version, or get creative with audio software. I give it 3.5/5 as it is better than average, but not as good as it could be.